He stepped out from behind the large rock at the edge of the clearing. His boots were covered in dirt and the heavy coat he wore brushed the frost-coated ground as he moved. His face, as always, was mostly hidden beneath the shadow of a hood, but his eyes glowed faintly with a frightening shine. It was a shade she had never seen in any wolf, witch, or creature she had known. Not natural, not mortal. It was a color that felt wrong even when she tried not to look directly at it.

She stayed where ...